SpaceX, Elon Musk’s aerospace company, intends to build a pipeline to transport natural gas from the port of Brownsville to Starbase, the operational base in the city of Boca Chica, Texas: work is expected to start next month and be completed by January 26.
VERTICAL INTEGRATION
The purpose of the pipeline – called Starpipe, thirteen kilometers long and with a diameter of 406 millimeters – is to increase the number of rocket launches and reduce turnaround times. But the infrastructure is also yet another example of Musk’s pursuit of vertical integration: just as Tesla – of which he is CEO – not only makes electric cars but also the batteries that power them and the systems for energy production and storage for charging purposes; SpaceX does not want to limit itself to designing and building rockets and spacecraft but also intends to extract and refine the fuel itself.
At Boca Chica, SpaceX is engaged in the development of the Starship spacecraft, which will be used to carry satellites, equipment for stations, and astronauts involved in lunar missions into space. Each Starship launch consumes nearly two and a half million liters of liquid methane, which currently is transported on-site by hundreds of tanker trucks: the process takes several hours and is therefore incompatible with Musk’s plans, who wants to reach hundreds and even thousands of launches per year. Since 2023, Starship has conducted twelve test launches.
SPACEX’S PLANS FOR GAS…
On June 12, the day of the stock market listing, President Gwynne Shotwell announced that SpaceX wants to build pipelines, extract natural gas itself, and refine the fuel.
At Starbase, in fact, in addition to the Starpipe terminal, a liquefaction plant should also be built to convert the gas into liquid methane. And SpaceX has been drilling near the complex for years in search of hydrocarbons: in 2020, it even created a subsidiary dedicated to resource extraction from underground (Lone Star Mineral Development), obtaining extraction rights in Cameron County, where Boca Chica is located.
… AND THE ULTIMATE GOAL
Controlling the supply chain not only guarantees SpaceX economic savings and logistical advantages (once operations are scaled up) but also allows it to acquire expertise applicable in different contexts.
For example, the know-how and data that SpaceX would accumulate through gas drilling and fuel refining could be useful – in a hypothetical future – on the Moon or Mars, when it will be necessary to drill the surface in search of water, minerals, and other elements useful for deep space exploration: this is what NASA, the United States space agency, calls “in-situ resource utilization.”
